Road to Ruin

Road to Ruin
Ramones studio album
Publication (s)	September 15, 1978
Label (s)	Sire Records
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Punk , rock
Title (number)	12
running time	31:02
occupation	Joey Ramone - vocals Johnny Ramone - electric guitar Dee Dee Ramone - electric bass Marky Ramone - drums Tommy Ramone - producer, guitar Ed Stasium - producer, guitar John Gillespie - Art Director John Holmstrom - cover illustration Danny Fields - photography Bob Gruen - Photography Chip Rock - Photography
production	Ed Stasium, T. Erdelyi
Studio (s)	May to June 1978, Media Sound Studios , Manhattan
chronology Rocket to Russia (1977) Road to Ruin It's Alive (1979)

Road to Ruin (1978)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Road to Ruin   UK 32 07.10.1978 (3 weeks)

Singles

Don't come close   UK 39 09/30/1978 (5 weeks)

Road to Ruin is the fourth music album by the American punk band Ramones . It was recorded and produced from May to June 1978 and released on Sire Records in September of the same year . With this album, the band tried to force the breakthrough on US radio through more sophisticated songwriting, catchier arrangements and more elaborate production. The intention was to reach a wider audience and thus to increase the sales figures compared to the previous albums, which failed.

History of origin

Road to Ruin is the Ramones' first album with the new drummer Marc Bell, who from then on carried the pseudonym Marky Ramone . Nevertheless, Tommy Ramone was instrumental in this album. On all songs on the album, producer Ed Stasium or ex-drummer and co-producer Tommy Ramone play the second guitar to make the overall sound of the band appear fuller. In addition, musical instruments that are not typical of the band, such as acoustic guitar and percussion, were used to a greater extent than in previous recordings. Road to Ruin is the Ramones' first work to include elements from lead guitar .

The album received an ambivalent response from the music press when it was released: while some reviews praised the band's technical advances, others criticized the loss of spontaneity and boisterous humor of the three previous albums. In the British press this loss , which occurred on Road to Ruin, was interpreted as an indication of the death of punk music . In the US, the album missed the Top 40 charts ; the number of items sold amounted to around 250,000 albums worldwide.

In 2001, Road to Ruin was re-released in an expanded version by Rhino Records . The original tracks have been remastered and the CD contains alternative versions of some of the songs.

Graphic design

The front of the record sleeve shows a colored caricature of the band from the pen of the New York comic artist John Holmstrom , who was friends with the group. Holmstrom had already illustrated the back of the record sleeve and the inner sleeve of the Ramones' previous album, Rocket to Russia . As a template for the cover illustration, he used a drawing by Ramones fan Gus MacDonald, which, however, still showed Tommy Ramone on the drums and therefore had to be remade.

The band photo on the cover back on Road to Ruin comes from Ramones manager Danny Fields , the photos of the band members on the inner sleeve of the LP or the booklet ( Booklet ) CD editions of the rock photographer Chip "Rock" Dayton and Bob Green . Part of the first edition of the LP was available in yellow vinyl in the US and Europe.

The pieces of music on the album (selection)

• The cover version of the song Needles and Pins , with which the British band The Searchers achieved a chart hit in the 1960s , was supposed to appear on the band's previous album, Rocket to Russia .
• I Wanna Be Sedated was written by Joey Ramone while he was hospitalized and received treatment for scalds to his face and throat. These were caused by an exploding tea kettle with boiling water, which he used as an inhaler to treat his sinuses. The US music magazine Rolling Stone lists I Wanna Be Sedated at number 144 in its list of the "500 best songs of all time".
• Don't Come Close and Questioningly are the only songs in the Ramones repertoire with country music influences .
• The US hardcore punk band Bad Brains was named after a song on the album, Bad Brain .
• It's a Long Way Back by Dee Dee Ramone focuses on his childhood in Germany.

Track list

(All songs by the Ramones unless otherwise noted.)

1. I Just Wanna Have Something to Do (Joey Ramone) - 2:42
2. I Wanted Everything (Dee Dee Ramone) - 3:18
3. Don't Come Close - 2:44
4. I Don't Want You - 2:26
5. Needles and Pins ( Sonny Bono / Jack Nitzsche ) - 2:21
6. I'm Against It - 2:07
7. I Wanna Be Sedated (Joey Ramone) - 2:29
8. Go Mental - 2:42
9. Questioningly (Dee Dee Ramone) - 3:22
10. She's the One - 2:13
11. Bad Brain - 2:25
12. It's a Long Way Back (Dee Dee Ramone) - 2:20

Total running time 31:02 minutes (LP)

Title of the extended new edition from 2001

1. I Want You Around (Ed Stasium Version)
2. Rock 'n' Roll High School (Ed Stasium Version)
3. Blitzkrieg Bop / Teenage Lobotomy / California Sun / Pinhead / She's The One (Live)
4. Come Back, She Cried aka I Walk Out (Demo)
5. Yea, Yea (demo)

Single releases

• 1978: Do You Wanna Dance? / It's a Long Way Back to Germany / Cretin Hop (Sire 6078 615)
• 1978: Don't Come Close / I Don't Want You (Sire SRE 1031)
• 1978: Don't Come Close / I Don't Want You (12 "maxi-single, Sire SRE 1031)
• 1978: Needles and Pins / I Wanted Everything
• 1979: She's the One / I Wanna Be Sedated (Sire SIR 4009)

literature

• Hey Ho Let's Go. The Story of the Ramones by Everett True. Omnibus Press, London / New York 2002. ISBN 0-7119-9108-1 (English).
• On the Road with the Ramones by Monte Melnick, Frank Meyer. Sanctuary Publishing Ltd., London 2003. ISBN 1-86074-514-8 (English).
• Ramones - The Complete Twisted History by Dick Porter. Plexus Publishing Ltd., London 2004. ISBN 0-85965-326-9 (English).
• Ramones - Photographs by Chip Dayton. Omnibus Press London / New York 2004. ISBN 1-903399-81-5 (English).

swell

1. ↑ Ramones in the UK charts
2. ↑ Porter: Ramones - The Complete Twisted History , pp. 94 ff.
3. ↑ Porter: Ramones - The Complete Twisted History , p. 92 f.
4. ^ Porter: Ramones - The Complete Twisted History , p. 95
5. ↑ True: Hey Ho Let's Go - The Story of the Ramones , p. 100
6. ↑ I Wanna Be Sedated on the Rolling Stone magazine website

Web links

• Road to Ruin at Allmusic (English)